EASTER SEALS MIDWEST

Thursday, January 3, 2013

A New Writing Challenge: Fiction

I never thought this would happen! I've had a couple blog posts in the past about the belief that I'd be incapable of writing anything fiction. I've had many reasons as to why such as the need to write descriptors about the environment and people. Also, I have pretty much one writing style. I don't think this is a bad thing, but I didn't think it would work for anything fiction.

Then, last summer when I was driving to Hagerstown, Maryland for a USAC race a story popped into my mind. There was no conscious effort on my part to think of the story, or how the story should flow. Truly, the story wasn't there one second and the next it was there.

I've shared my plot line with several people and each time they told me, "you have to write that" with much enthusiasm. So much so that I figured I better stop sharing my story or someone might just take it.

Anyway, it's not so much to have a story but rather the hard part comes in writing that first word. Every book I've written has been that way. My first book, Finding Kansas, was sort of that way but when I started that I wasn't thinking anything I wrote would be a book. The following books, none of which are published yet, were different. I spent several weeks waiting for that right time to start as starting a project as big as writing a book consumes a lot of one's mind and soul.

At least once a week since summer I said, "Okay, today is the day I start..." and each day that I thought would be the start came and went with no words being written. Then yesterday happened.

It was a long time coming but I sat down yesterday and wrote my first word of my fiction book. After a paragraph it felt natural and as I wrote I was able to visualize the story making the writing process easier.

I ended after writing nearly 1,000 words and was rather tired afterwards. I got the same way when writing chapters of my first book. This let me know that my words were flowing. As I mentioned, writing takes a lot of mind and soul and anything decent that I write requires no conscious thought; everything just flows. The side effect, it would seem, is that I get rather tired after writing.

So what is my story about? Come on now! I already said that I have a fear of someone stealing my story but I will say I am including Asperger's Syndrome in the story. It's subtle and not the main topic yet at the same time it is the central point of the story. Confused? Good, now you can't take my story.

The hard part now is taking that second step. I've heard from countless others that they've started a book only to lose interest after that first day so my goal today is to make sure that doesn't happen.

2 comments:

I am glad to hear that you have taken that first big step in writing-facing the blank page and conquering it! It will be a fantastic story, I am sure. Your writing style is wonderful Aaron. I love reading your blog and find myself cheering, crying, laughing, and in general really feeling what you write! That is the mark of a truly wonderful author! Keep writing! Looking forward to reading your mysterious story one day!

Who I Am

Hello, my name is Aaron Likens and thanks for visiting my blog. I am the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest and also the author of the book "Finding Kansas. My passion in life is to raise the awareness and understanding of the autism spectrum through this blog as well as the many presentations I give. For myself, as much as it is a passion, it is personal because I was given the diagnosis of Asperger's when I was 20. Back then there wasn't much info and I fell into a pit of despair. I stayed there for 15 months but then I eventually discovered myself through writing and now here I am and here you are on my blog. There are well over 1,000 posts on this blog as I started blogging in March of 2010. So whether you're reading today's blog, or are skimming through stories of the past, I hope that your time here gives you a better glimps of what living life on the autism spectrum, or, "other side of the wall" is like. If you do like what you see please follow me on Facebook as that's where I share when I've written a new blog as well as announcing where I will be presenting. Please note that the opinions expressed on this blog are mine and may not be reflective of Easter Seals Midwest.

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Finding Kansas Revisited

To mark 10 years since I started writing my book I did a blog series with my thoughts from today on what I wrote then. This was the first time I ever read anything I had ever written.

The Sunglasses Experiment

I ran a sunglasses experiment to judge why eye contact is so difficult. I wore them for about 15 days, then I switched back to my normal glasses to see how big of a difference there was. By clicking my picture you can be taken to the page that has the complete experiement all in one place.

About Me

I am the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest and also the author of Finding Kansas: Living and Decoding Asperger's Syndrome. My passion in life is raising awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders and to help the world understand how the mind of a person on the spectrum works. I can do this because I am on the spectrum (Asperger's).
I was diagnosed at the age of 20 and after the diagnosis a lot of my quirks made sense. I didn't understand who I was though and went into a deep depression. Through this depression though I became very keen on my inner self and I started to write. I wrote and I wrote and before I knew it I wrote a book.
5 years later I am, among other things, giving presentations to police, teachers, and parents and am now starting my quest on making the best blog possible!
The views on this blog are mine and may not be reflective of Easter Seals Midwest.
If you have any questions, or comments, or have an article idea please email me at aaron.likens@yahoo.com.